Imaculata
Hero
Recently my players were crossing an ocean on their ship, when they encountered a Megalodon. They did not need to fight this beast, but they chose to do so because the challenge was there. They wanted to kill it. While they were pretty well armed, they may have underestimated their opponent a little. But I made sure to foreshadow to my players that any battle with any seamonster is going to be tough. And so they knew going into this battle that it could go south at any moment. Much to their surprise, the beast pulled off an unexpected move. It swam underneath the ship, and then suddenly jumped out of the water on the other side, and tried to swallow two of the players that were shooting at it from the forward bow. It caught one of them, and dragged him underneath the surface of the water. This character could have died, and he nearly did. But due to quick thinking on his part, he managed to escape within an inch of his life. Now fortunately for him he didn't die. But if he had, it still would have been perfectly fair, because:
-I made it very clear that sea monsters are very dangerous
-They know I'm not afraid to kill player characters.
-I made it clear the beast was very large and could swallow them whole with ease (and it did!)
-They attacked the creature when they didn't need to.
-They underestimated the creature.
-He got swallowed due to poor positioning on his part.
So had he died, it would have been despite the players being properly informed. Its a series of poor decissions that almost got him killed. I think it might be good to ask yourself if you gave your players enough information to make good decissions. PC's can die at any time, but a complete TPK is a rare thing. So it may be good to look at what you as a DM could have done differently to avoid this.
-I made it very clear that sea monsters are very dangerous
-They know I'm not afraid to kill player characters.
-I made it clear the beast was very large and could swallow them whole with ease (and it did!)
-They attacked the creature when they didn't need to.
-They underestimated the creature.
-He got swallowed due to poor positioning on his part.
So had he died, it would have been despite the players being properly informed. Its a series of poor decissions that almost got him killed. I think it might be good to ask yourself if you gave your players enough information to make good decissions. PC's can die at any time, but a complete TPK is a rare thing. So it may be good to look at what you as a DM could have done differently to avoid this.
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